.17HMR less accurate from velocity?

[roob]

G'day guys,

I'm thinking of adding a rimfire rifle to the safe.

22LR is obviously a popular one for precision target shooting and has tonnes of match grade ammo available. Sub-sonics are the popular one for accuracy...

.17HMR is much higher velocity obviously for the additional range. Is it right to say you're sacrificing some accuracy for this speed though?

Even if only a fraction?

[Apollo]

I don't think you will find "Match Grade" ammo for a .17HMR and really they are chalk n cheese. The .17HMR is really a good rimfire small varmit rifle but precision target shooting it is not. The available ammo is just not up to the task and is expensive in comparison.

Had a .17HMR for a few years, loved it but got sick of paying top dollar for ammo so sold it and prefer to use my .22 Hornet which is just as accurate if not better plus has longer legs. I use 30-35gr bullets in the .22 Hornet and they really provide much better results.

Each to their own though.

[Antie]

Match ammo is invariably sub-sonic for maximum accuracy.

.17 HMR is made for velocity.

Gotta pick one or the other in this instance. That's not to say .17 HMR can't shoot well, but just not as well as a match .22

[Supporter]

Match grade .22 is hard to beat.

Check out those groups.

[roob]

Gotta pick one or the other in this instance. That's not to say .17 HMR can't shoot well, but just not as well as a match .22

Fair enough.

When I started searching for this I found a few photos of peoples groups that were pretty ordinary.

1 1/4 inch at 50m and that kind of stuff. Doesn't inspire much confidence obviously...

I get that it won't be as accurate as match .22 stuff, but I'm not looking for competition groups. Just don't want anything that's going to be frustratingly inaccurate.

Found a few better examples of people shooting good groups though. More than enough for what I'm wanting.